Michael Woods became the first deaf British person and the first deaf European to reach the summit of Mount Everest, capping a climb he said he had nearly abandoned at several points because of sickness, exhaustion and doubt.
Woods confirmed the achievement on Friday after posting updates through the ascent, including a Sunday 17 May message that he had trekked from base camp to Camp 2, a move to Camp 3 on Tuesday 19 May and a push to Camp 4 on Wednesday 20 May. On Instagram, he said the expedition involved “pain, exhaustion, doubt, waiting, setbacks” and “one of the hardest battles mentally and physically” he had ever faced, adding that there were moments when he did not know whether he could make it.
He said he had been sick and was struggling for energy during the climb, but still pushed on to the summit of the world’s highest mountain at 8,848m. “Standing on the summit of Mount Everest is something I’ll never ever forget,” he wrote, describing the summit as “years of dreaming, sacrifice and proving to myself that anything is possible if you refuse to give up.”
The climb also carried a fundraising goal. Woods said he was raising money for NDCS, the National Deaf Children’s Society, and said the group had supported his son Joseph from the very beginning. In a JustGiving message before the attempt, he said he planned to climb Everest in 2026, that he might become the first Deaf British person to reach the top and that he wanted his children to grow up believing they can achieve their dreams, no matter how big they are.
Woods’ finish comes almost three years after Scott Lehmann and Shayna Unger became the first deaf Americans to reach Everest’s summit. His success adds a new milestone to a mountain where records are often measured in seconds or meters, but where this climb was measured instead in persistence, recovery and the decision to keep going when his body was telling him otherwise.
For Woods, the climb now stands as both a personal victory and a public statement. He turned a years-long goal into a summit and linked it directly to the message he said he wanted his children to hear: that there are limits, but he did not treat them as the final word.
